146 AN EAST COAST NATURALIST 



The half-fowl were Tufted Ducks, Golden-eyes, etc. 



The Common Snipe nests very sparingly in the 

 lowlands around Yarmouth. I knew a pair to 

 nest on a low, swampy bit of fen a few score yards 

 beyond Belton Station. By the Broads it is of 

 less infrequent occurrence. The Snipe puts in an 

 appearance on our marshes in some numbers on 

 the approach of frost. In the early 'eighties a severe 

 frost shut up all the ditches and solidified the 

 fenny places farther north. The brackish " decks " 

 of our own immediate neighbourhood in one night 

 became swarmed ; and for a day or two after every 

 gunner was incessantly blazing away as the birds 

 were flushed continually by the tramp of feet and 

 snuffing of dogs. Hundreds were killed. The 

 frost continued, and after the third day the numbers 

 began perceptibly to lessen, and in less than a 

 week not a bird was to be found. But directly 

 there was a break, a rush back took place, although 

 very few birds were then secured. 



It is a very rare circumstance to meet with this 

 species on Breydon. I observed one on a hot day 

 in 1901 feeding along with a parcel of Dunlins. 

 Its favourite resorts had in all probability been 

 dried up by a long-continued drought. 



